Fire Feeding Feds
The Feds are still feeding the Inflation fire. They might taper off on their bond buying spree but still plan to keep interest rates near zero.
Meanwhile Republicans want to blame Democrats for raising the debt ceiling to make room for more fuel.
Wall Street seems to have overcome its China angst, for now. It’s back on a shopping spree too.
Wall Street out on a Ledge over China
Wall Street took a deep dive yesterday on news from China. Investors are afraid China’s biggest property developer, Evergrande Group, won’t be able to make payments on its debt. If that happens the company could collapse like Lehman Brothers in 2008 and take the economy down with it.
To make matters worse the Wall Street Journal (paywall) reports that Communist Party leader Xi Jinping isn’t a capitalist! He thinks private capital is running “amok.” And he wants to force China back to “the vision of Mao Zedong, who saw capitalism as a transitory phase on the road to socialism.” He even showed up in a Mao suit.
Maybe my guy on the ledge is afraid he’s on the road to serfdom.
Milley Over The Horizon Surprise
A new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa claims Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told his Chinese counterpart, “If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”
A month ago an Afghan family was surprised by a U.S. drone strike that killed 7 children and their father, an Afghan worker for a U.S. aid agency. The attack was part of President Biden’s “over the horizon” strategy to fight terrorism.
Gorilla Mask Egg Caper Draws Crickets
After repeated intimate exposure to Bokbluster, I decided to self-quarantine for the summer. But now I’m back. While away I still drew cartoons for paying customers and will spend the fall backdating the ones I liked.
This one is from shortly before the California recall election. A white woman in a gorilla mask threw an egg at Larry Elder. I know it’s California – but still – pretty much media crickets. Apparently California voters were ok with it too. Gavin Newsom won handily.
Pipeline Shakedown
Cyber-hackers, known as DarkSide, broke into the Colonial Pipeline’s computer system. Once inside they encrypted the operating system and held the company hostage. That was a big deal because Colonial pumps refined fuel from the Gulf to the eastern United States. Gas prices immediately skyrocketed and people lined up 1970s style. Some stations even had to shut down. Joe Biden put on a cardigan sweater and told people to turn down their thermostats. Ok, it didn’t get that bad. But it was bad enough that Colonial paid DarkSide a $4.4 million ransom to get back on line.
Thousands of trucks had tried to carry the load for Colonial but Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat and former governor of Michigan, said pipelines are the best way to move oil and gas. That was a big deal too because Green New Dealers love to shut down pipelines. In fact, one of President Cardigan’s first acts in office was to kill the Keystone XL pipeline.
The current Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, also a Democrat, didn’t get her predecessor’s message either. She’s demanding that the Enbridge pipeline which passes underwater from the UP to the lower peninsula shut down immediately. And she’s threatening to take all the pipeline’s revenue if the company doesn’t obey her.
